Electric-circuit controller for railway-switches.



, G. M. THOMPSON. ELECTRIC CIRCUIT CONTROLLER FQR RAILWAY SWITGHES.

V APPLICATION FILED MAY718,1}909.

975,585. Patented Nov..15, 1910.

nu: NORRIS PETER$ cu, WASHINGTON. n. c.

EINE' GUY M. THOMPSON, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR TO THE G. M.THOMPSON RAILWAY SWITCH COMPANY, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, A CORPORATIONOF WASHINGTON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 15, 1310.

Application filed. May 18, 1909. Serial No. 496,707.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUY M. THOMPSON, citizen of the United States,residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of lVashington,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-CircuitControllers for Railway-Switches, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to devices which are employed in the operation ofelectrically operated railway switches and more especially for use withthat class of switches described and illustrated in United States PatentNo. 866,983, which was issued September 24, 1907.

The object of the present invention is to provide apparatus under thecontrol of a motorman whereby the electric circuits necessary toinfluence the switch-operating magnets may be made efitective to changethe condition of the switch-point without interfering with the electriccurrent which is utilized in the propulsion of a car.

With this end in view the invention consists in the novel constructionand combination of devices, as will be hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevationalview of an electric car and the trolley-wire with which are appliedapparatus embodying my invention the magnetically operated track-switchbeing shown in diagrammatic lines. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspectiveview of the trolleypole. Fig. 3 is an underside plan view of thetrolley-box. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section of Fig. 3. Fig. 5is a perspective view of one of the pairs of contact elements such asare employed upon a carroof.

The reference numeral 10 designates a car provided with a trolley-pole11 which, as usual, is arranged to be revolubly swung about an axis 12.Secured to the car-roof at similar distances to the front and rear ofsaid axis are transversely arranged blocks 13 and 13 which affordinsulating supports for the terminals of two normally incompleteelectrical wire connections 14 and 15 extending to and operativelyconnected with a three-way switch, indicated by 16 in Fig. 1, providedat each end of the car. Each of these switches is connected by a wire,as 17, which forms parts of a circuit including a source of electricsupply as, for example, the wire a employed to supply electric energy tothe power motor of the car and the magnets of a magnetic switch 7). Saidterminals of the connections 14 and 15, see Fig. 5, are each formed of aflexible plate 18 of suitable metal which is fixedly secured at one endby a screw 19 with the respective block and has its other end slidablyconnected, as by a screw 20, passing through a slotthereof to be securedin the block. The screws 19 are desirably used as binding screws forattaching the aforesaid wires 14 and 15 to the appropriate bars. In anarm 21 of the trolleypole are carried insulated brush elements 22 and 23disposed to contact with the pair of plates 18 at either side of thepole. lVire connections 24 and 25 between said brush elements andmetallic bars 24 and 25 are connected with the pole near its upperextremity and upon opposite sides of the same. Advantageously the wires24 and 25 are extended through the pole, as indicated by broken lines inFig. 1. Said bars are. insulated with respect to the pole by beingembedded in intervening cheek pieces 26 formed of a suitable material,such as lignum-vitae wood, and which are clamped to the pole by a band27, or an equivalent.

28 represents a trolley-wire, which extends through a box 29 unprovidedwith ends and a bottom or, more particularly, the box is comprised of atop part 30 which is rigidly connected along its lateral edges withpendent sides 31. The box is suitably supported against horizontaldisplacement, as by stays 32 (Figs. 1 and 4) connected from posts, or anequivalent, and is likewise coupled with the trolley-wire by hangers 40whose shanks 40 extend through and are supported by insulating members30 of the box top. Longitudinally arranged metal plates 33 and 34 areprovided within the box to afford contact elements of normallyincomplete electric circuits 33 and 34 which, upon occasion, areemployed in energizing the respective magnets for operating the oint ofan electric switch, as for example, like the one shown in the aforesaidpatent. The plates 33 and 34 are arranged to be respectively contactedby the bars 24 and 25 as the latter are carried by the pole in passingthrough the box. That such contacts may be insured, the plate elementsthereof are desirably made of resilient material and are offset inwardlyfrom the box-sides so as to protrude within the path of the respectivecheek pieces 28 to necessitate the plates being thrust outwardly in thepassage of the pole. Advantageously, the plates 33 and 34 have theirends bent to overlie the outer faces of the box sides, see Figs. 1 and3, and with one end of each plate fixedly secured by screws 35 while theother ends are provided with slots 36 to furnish supports for endwisemovement upon screws 37 to accommodate the changes in length due to thereferred to outward thrust of the plates.

Extending outwardly from the front and rear of the box are guards 88formed of rods which, as best shown in Figs. 8 and 4, span thetrolley-wire at some distance from the extremities of the box and thencespread downwardly in diverging limbs and in inclined directions forbeing secured to the outer faces of the box sides, substantially asrepresented in Fig. 1. The oflice of these guards is to swerve atrolley-pole which is disconnected with the trolley-wire to one side orthe other to prevent its encountering the box.

The operation of the invention may be described as follows: When the carapproaches a track switch which is to be altered then the motormanmanipulates the three-way electric switch 16 to close the gap betweenthe circuit wires 14, or 15, and the wire 17 With this portion of themagnet circuit of the track-switch coupled there is still an incompletecircuit with the bar 24, or 25, and

the box-plates 38, or 34, for terminals. In the further progress of thecar the trolleypole carries said bars through the box and in so doingmakes wiping contacts between the bars and said plates to cause thecompletion of the circuit Wires which areclosed by the switch 16 andthereby supplying the proper track-switch controllingmagnet with anenergizing current to swing the trackswitch point in the selecteddirection.

It is to be noted that the electric current that actuates thetrack-switch is distinct from the current which effects the propulsionof the car and is regulated by an independent controller. By such anarrangement the speed of the car need not be changed when the conditionof the trackswitch is to be altered.

What I claim as my invention, is-

A trolley actuated circuit closer, comprising, in combination, aninsulated housing supported by the trolley wire including spacedlongitudinal side members, trolley guides secured to and oppositelyprojected from either end of the housing, longitudinally arrangedresilient contact plates secured to the side members of the housing andinsulated from each other, a magnetic track switch, and a normally openelectrical circuit including said plates and said track switch andadapted to be closed by the trolley frictionally engaging said plates.

GUY M. THOMPSON. /Vitnesses H. BARNES, M. D. FRENCH.

